ISOLATION OF HIGH PURITY GINSENOSIDES FROM PLANT EXTRACT OF PANAX GINSENG BY HIGH PERFORMANCE CENTRIFUGAL PARTITION CHROMATOGRAPHY COUPLED WITH EVAPORATIVE LIGHT SCATTERING DETECTION

Abstract

A high performance centrifugal partition chromatography (HPCPC) combined with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) was developed for the separation of ginsenosides from Panax ginseng. Two compounds, ginsenosides Rb₁ and Rb₂, were isolated and purified by HPCPC using an optimized two-phase solvent system composed of ethyl acetate–n–butanol–water (0.8:1.2:2, v/v/v). The purities of the two ginsenosides were 95.6% and 97.8%, respectively, as determined by high performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC–ELSD). The identification of the ginsenosides Rb₁ and Rb₂ in the extract of P. ginseng was based on matching their retention times with those of the authentic standards. The results demonstrate that HPCPC-ELSD is a feasible and efficient technique for isolation of nonchromophoric components from traditional medicinal herbs.

Keywords:

• evaporative light scattering detection
• ginsenosides
• high performance centrifugal partition chromatography
• Panax ginseng

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970299) and the National Natural Science Foundation of JiLin Province (No. 20090936, 20102203, [2009]D206, 2011-187).